Recount looms after historically close selectman race
By Jay TurnerLoughran tops Lopez by 1 vote in fierce 3-way battle
It was only the second day of April, but there were plenty of evening fireworks in Canton Tuesday night thanks to a dramatic Board of Selectmen race that came down to a couple of hand-counted ballots.
In what is surely one of the closest three-way races in Canton political history, Michael Loughran edged Lisa Lopez by a single vote, 1,033 to 1,032, with Jim Quigley coming in a very close third with 968 votes. Each of the three candidates, who were vying for a two-year vacancy on the board, received between 31 and 34 percent of the total vote and each carried two of the six voting precincts (4 and 5 for Loughran, 2 and 3 for Lopez and 1 and 6 for Quigley).
Given the razor-thin margin of the top two finishers in particular, talk of a recount began to surface almost as soon as the unofficial voting totals appeared, and Lopez confirmed via email on Wednesday morning that she would in fact be pursuing one. Based on machine-counted ballots alone, Lopez had come up four votes short, but she subsequently gained an additional three votes during the hand-counted review process by the town clerk’s office.
This process, as town clerk Tracy Kenney explained on election night, is standard for all elections. Essentially, a few of the ballots in each precinct, for a variety of reasons such as a voter making a stray mark, are unable to be read by the computerized tabulator and must be examined individually by the election workers and town clerk staff. In Lopez’s case, this review netted her two additional votes in Precinct 2 and one additional vote in Precinct 1.
Regarding the recount procedure, which is established by state law, Lopez and/or Quigley now have until next Friday at 5 p.m. to file a completed recount petition with the town clerk’s office. The petition must include at least 10 certified signatures from each of the six voting precincts, and if all other paperwork is in order, the town clerk would then set the date and time of the recount. Each candidate, along with their designated representatives, will be permitted to observe the recount and to watch and inspect the ballots.
In the meantime, Loughran has been declared the winner and was formally sworn in to office at the town clerk’s office on Wednesday morning. He is tentatively scheduled to begin his two-year term at the next selectmen’s meeting on Tuesday, April 9, at 5:30 p.m.
As for the other offices on this year’s ballot, all nine were uncontested, including a regular three-year selectman’s seat that went to longtime incumbent John Connolly. Other incumbents who were reelected on Tuesday include Assessor William Galvin, Board of Health member Ruth Slattery, and library trustees Margaret Mead and Emily Prigot.
Four newcomers were also elected to their first terms in uncontested races: Kristian Merenda and Maureen Moran on the School Committee, Kathy McCormack on the Planning Board, and Nancy Connery on the Library Board of Trustees.
Despite the presence of only a single contested race, this year’s election generated widespread interest and drew more than three times the amount of voters to the polls than the 2018 election, which also featured one contested BOS race. A total of 3,061 ballots were cast, and interest was palpable throughout the community and across local social media channels. The town also sent out a reverse 911 call on the eve of the election reminding people to go to the polls.
Short URL: https://www.thecantoncitizen.com/?p=53758
Posted by Jay Turner
on Apr 5 2019. Filed under News, Town Election, Town Government.
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